by Sarah Bammel

Created on: May 29, 2009

The fantasy genre is something we have probably all experienced in our lifetimes. As little children we pretended to be princesses and knights, witches and wizards, or just lived in the video games we played like Mario Brothers.

According to dictionary.com, fantasy literature is defined as an imaginative or fanciful work, especially one dealing with supernatural or unnatural events or characters. Books will have certain characteristics in the story to be classified as fantasy. The book will have things like magic, imagined worlds, parallel worlds, unreal characters, and a fight between good and evil.

Magic

When we hear the word magic we start thinking of witches, wizards, and sorcery. A character does not have to be a witch, wizard, or sorcerer to use magic. In the House of Night series by PC Cast and Kristin Cast, vampires use a kind of magic. The main character, Zoey, is a vampire fledgling and priestess in training. She has an affinity for all five elements meaning she can call upon the elements like wind to help her by blowing something away, or like fire to make something warm.

Eragon in the Inheritance cycle by Christopher Paolini is another example of being able to use magic but not being a wizard. Eragon is a dragon rider, but in the stories he uses a little magic. By saying something like Brisingr he can create fire.

Of course there are always characters like Harry Potter who do fit the stereotype of being a wizard. There is also Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Zeddicus can create what is called wizard's fire from his fingers and make things burn. He does not use the traditional wand but he is still a wizard.

Unreal World

Unreal worlds are either completely imagined or are parallel versions of our own. An example of an imagined world would be the city of Farthen Dur from the Inheritance cycle. Farthen Dur is an underground series of tunnels, made by dwarves. Or an example of a parallel world would be the world of Harry Potter while he is living with his Aunt and Uncle.

Unreal Characters

It is pretty easy to guess what is meant by unreal characters. These are the vampires, witches, dragons, fairies, elves, dwarves, talking animalsneed anymore be said. Tinkerbell is a fairy and fits the stereotype of an unreal fantasy character. There are also they vampires from the House of Night series, or the dragons of Anne McCaffrey's world of Pern.

Good verses Evil

Having the epic good verses evil is not a requirement to be a fantasy book, but most have this famous fight. In the Harry Potter series it is Harry Potter, representing the side of good, verses Lord Voldermort, representing evil. Or in the Inheritance cycle, Eragon represents good and King Galbatorix represents evil. Sometimes the main fight is more just a personal battle to overcome obstacles like in DragonSong by Anne McCaffrey where the main character Menolly discovers independence after running away from home because her father did not want her using her musical talents, and in the end finds a place that accepts her and her musical talent.

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